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Novemthree Siahaan (November 3, 1998 –
September 15, 2005[1])
was a young Indonesian boy who had the rare condition gigantiform cementoma. The story
of his life garnered much media attention when he was taken to Taiwan for treatment. His
surgeries were filmed for international broadcast on the Discovery
television network.

Contents

Background

Born with a normal face in Batam Island, November
3, 1998, Indonesia,
Novemthree was raised in a poor village. His mother sent him to
live with his grandparents at a young age, before the cementoma had
started to grow. When they returned to Novemthree roughly eight
months later, the cementoma had already grown to alarming size; so
much that Novemthree's parents questioned if it were actually their
son. Extremely concerned, Novemthree's parent's brought him to the
local doctor (the only one they could afford) and he informed
Novemthree's father that it was most likely black magic that was supposed to affect
him, but instead attacked Novemthree. Time passed, and the
cementoma had grown to cover nearly his entire face. Novemthree
could no longer see out of his right eye, lost his ability to walk,
had respiratory problems due to his airway being blocked, and had
to lift his head up to drink. Before surgery, the cementoma weighed
in approximately at two pounds.

Medical
care in Taiwan

Novemthree needed immediate medical attention. The surgeons
at Tz'u Chi Buddhist General Hospital in Hualien, Taiwan placed a tube in Novemthree's trachea
to allow him to breathe while removing his tumours. The surgeons
would have to cut the tumour in three different surgeries and
re-sculpt his face because the tumors had destroyed much of his
facial structure. The first surgery was performed on Novemthree's
left cheek, giving him sight in
his left eye. The second surgery performed was to excise the tumour
on his right cheek. In spite of doubts from the surgical team, he
regained sight in his right eye as well. The final surgery would
remove the remaining tumour from Novemthree's mouth, and reconstruct his face to approximate
normality.

Novemthree had to endure physical therapy to regain his ability
to walk, and speech therapy to teach him how to speak
again. Though it was expected that he would need future surgeries,
Novemthree was soon allowed back home. The hope was that the boy
would be able to recuperate as well as mature, so that more bone
would grow for the doctors to continue to reshape Novemthree's
face.

Death

One year later the tumour, which had been shaped to form the
lost skull bones, began to grow back. He was taken back to the
hospital for further surgery as the tumors had grown faster than
the doctors expected and his breathing was becoming restricted. A
second procedure was needed. However, doctors hesitated to perform
the operation due to concerns about the necessity of a permanent tracheotomy (which
would be difficult to keep clean due to poor sanitary conditions in
his home village) as well as the unexpected rapidity of the
tumour's regrowth. Novemthree was sent back home mere hours before
the original time for the operation[1].
On September 15, 2005, Novemthree died in his sleep, at the age of
7, due to a respiratory infection in his chest. The Tzu
Chi foundation gave him a proper burial.

Media

Novemthree's story was shared on the Discovery Health Channel in
2005. Viewers were drawn to Novemthree's story because of the
severity of the deformity as well as the boy's sweet character. His
father Siahaan describes his son as "a kind, wise and clever kid.
Whenever he was feeling ill he never once complained to us, he
simply took all his suffering on his own.[1]".
It was only at the end of the program in a footnote, did viewers
learn of Novemthree's passing. A second TV show about Novemthree
and his medical condition has been produced and aired, in which his
death is also depicted.